Frustrated by poor quality product

[tim wood]

Hello all,
I have just sold my 2+2 and part of the deal was that I would take off and keep the Edis system for my , yet to be acquired OTS.

Being a good chap I told the buyer I would fit a new distributor, coil etc. Purchased a unit from a large parts retailer who advertises as a specialist in electronic items. Price seemed to good to be true but hey ho.

Fitted it tonight and the car ran like a pig, misfiring all over the place. I removed the new unit and checked the points gap, which had closed up from the original setting. Reset this and refitted, no improvement. In desperation if dug out my old lumenition system and old distributor which frankly I thought may not work.

You guess -- first push of the button and smooth running.
Checked over the cheapo new unit, burnt points, irregular gap etc, etc.

Another waste of time and money.

Will I ever learn ---- still I've got my Edis safely tucked away

[Bobb]

What exactly was the part and where did you buy it?

[288gto]

Tim, I sympathise wholeheartedly with you.

To update my handbrake saga, the seller (a large well known one) suggested that they had inspected the cable and could supply me with larger clevis pins to fit the wrong oversized badly drilled holes in their cable.

I was so bewildered by their belated e mail suggestion that I phoned them up to ask if they were firstly seriously and secondly had they actually thought their suggestion through!

A rough transcript of the conversation.

Me. " So what you are actually suggesting is that I drill larger holes in my original and newly chrome plated handbrake lever AND the compensator mechanism so that your £15 piece of tat fits? "

Them. "......er yes"

Me. "sigh"

I kid you not!

Simon

[tim wood]

I'm happy to name the product and supplier. Can a moderator advise on this.

I thought we had a no name and shame policy

[Heuer]

Depends on how you do it. If you were to, say, write a review of the positives and negatives of your experience there would be no problem. If however you decided to do a complete hatchet job on the vendor we would have a problem.

[Hugo]

Even the best of suppliers are going to have problems with THEIR suppliers from time to time. If they are a reputable outfit they will want to be made aware of it. Any respectable business values constructive criticism.
In my opinion (fwiw) a truthful statement of facts on the forum should not be an issue; if you were to call them a bunch of assholes that may be less welcome.

[rfs1957]

If these are the (very good in appearance) Chinese distributors that are sold by a firm that has a popular boys' christian name in it, beginning with S, and ending with the name of the organisation that broadcasts Radio Four, I have it on good (trade) information that these can be bought for peanuts and sold at great profit.

The Distributor Doctor indeed states

Please be aware that the marketplace is flooded with low grade reproduction copies of the original UK Lucas distributors which cost $7.50 in batches of 500.

In most cases, neither the advance curves nor vacuum characteristics bear any relevance to the vehicles they are claimed to be suitable for. They are potentially very detrimental to the health, performance and longevity of your engine.

and I can confirm that the one I bought for the Mini was ess aitch aye tee.

[Hugo]

Same with everything that bears these Lucas name these days. Didn't the Chinese buy the name or something? Genuine old-stock Lucas stuff is ten times better if you can find it.

[abowie]

beginning with S, and ending with the name of the organisation that broadcasts Radio Four

See my comments on several previous threads about these distributors. Advance curve in no way matched the correct one. I have managed to modify it to suit but that involves quite a lot of work.

[Hugo]

It was one of their distributors that caused me so much grief in my wife's Morris Minor. We concluded that the current flowing through the starter motor adjacent to the ditributor was triggerring randon sparks which caused the engine to kick back so much when the starter was pulled that I feared it would break the crank. The suppliers were very helfpul and sent me another distributor, but that was just the same. Completely un-useable.

[Bobb]

.....and ending with the name of the organization that broadcasts Radio Four....

And for those of us across the pond that would be?....

(This could be a fun little game for such an international forum; guess the name of something that only residents of a particular country would know. Eg: All Canucks loathe a disgusting food item that is made (and consumed in great quantities) in Quebec. It's called _________?)

[chrisfell]

.....and ending with the name of the organization that broadcasts Radio Four....

And for those of us across the pond that would be?....

(This could be a fun little game for such an international forum; guess the name of something that only residents of a particular country would know. Eg: All Canucks loathe a disgusting food item that is made (and consumed in great quantities) in Quebec. It's called _________?)

Don't worry, I'd never heard of the business concerned, and I live here. For reference Radio Four is broadcast by the BBC, and I have a friend called Simon, who like me absolutely hates Poutine. Thankfully, cheese curds are not readily available in Blighty.

[JagWaugh]

... and I have a friend called Simon, who like me absolutely hates Poutine. Thankfully, cheese curds are not readily available in Blighty.

There you go, I'm Canadian, and I thought Bob meant Pork Tourtier, which is fantastic, especially with HP sauce! (I emigrated before the Poutine craze.)

[Durango2k]

Disgusting food- Marmite ?

Carsten

[Heuer]

And for those of us across the pond that would be?....

http://www.simonbbc.com/

This could be a fun little game for such an international forum; guess the name of something that only residents of a particular country would know. Eg: All Canucks loathe a disgusting food item that is made (and consumed in great quantities) in Quebec. It's called _________?)

Maple Syrup?

[Hugo]

Disgusting food- Marmite ? Carsten

Only to be expected from a foreigner - it takes a true Englishman to appreciate the subtlety of Marmite. Food for thought perhaps?

[malcolm]

In fairness, I bought some goods off Simon BBC and found them very helpful. I suppose I just didn't buy the goods mentioned here! They also worked well on my car.

[Gfhug]

Ditto, very happy with them

Geoff

[tim wood]

Just for the record the supplier was not any company mentioned here.

[paydase]

I considered purchasing an electronic distributor from the named company, as I had read positive comments in this forum of the stuff they sold.
That was put on hold because the issue I had (hot ignition at high revs) disappeared when replacing the cap of my dizzy.
But I am now confused...